far

From Middle English ferre, fer, Old English feor, feorr, from Proto-Germanic *ferrai.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɑː/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑɹ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)

far (comparative farther or further, superlative farthest or furthest or farthermost or furthermost)

1. Distant; remote in space.

   He went to a far land.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 9:6:

     And they went to Ioshua vnto the campe at Gilgal, and said vnto him, and to the men of Israel, Wee be come from a farre countrey: Now therefore make ye a league with vs.

   • 2009, Graham Huggan, Ian Law, Racism Postcolonialism Europe, page 1:

     Tsiolkas's Europe, as voraciously predatory as his own undead protagonist, is a far cry from the fount of idealistic humanism dreamed up by generations of both pre- and post-Enlightenment politicians and philosophers, a Europe defined by its durable capacity for civility in an otherwise barbarous world.

2. Remote in time.

   the far future

3. Long. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   • 2011, Peggy Woods, Ramblings from a Soul, page 42:

     I have such a long way to go but yet I have come such a far piece already

4. More remote of two.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   See those two mountains? The ogre lives on the far one.

   He moved to the far end of the state. She remained at this end.

5. Extreme, as measured from some central or neutral position.

   They are on the far right on this issue.

   • 2010, William Alexander Patterson, 4th, The City Is served Bartholomew! to the American Prison!, page 118:

     He was withdrawn to such a far degree that it required of Piers and Jude a good deal of occasional conferencing between the two of them, in private.

6. Extreme, as a difference in nature or quality.
   • 1657, Henry Ainsworth, Zachary Coke, The Art of Logick., page 26:

     As sensible maketh a man differ from a stone, in a far difference; for other Species, as Beasts, have the same difference, but reasonable is the nearest, whereby he differeth from a stone, beasts, and all other things.

   • 1979, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations, Military situation in the Far East - Volume 3, page 1737:

     Is there not a far difference between asking it up and urging it, Mr. Secretary ?

   • 2010, Deborah Cartmell, Screen Adaptations: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, page 78:

     The pressbook identifies the film as a 'picturization of Jane Austen's widely read novel' and starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (based on the theatrical adaptation by Helen Jerome), it is a far remove from adaptations that follow.

   • 2014, Henry Sussman, Playful Intelligence: Digitizing Tradition, page 124:

     This may not be at such a far remove from the endlessly recursive textual inventions of Kafka, Beckett, and Bernhard as it may seem.

7. (programming, not comparable) Outside the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture.

   far heap; far memory; far pointer

• (remote in space): distant, far; see also Thesaurus:distant

• (antonym(s) of “remote in space”): close, near; see also Thesaurus:near

far (comparative farther or further, superlative farthest or furthest)

1. To, from or over a great distance in space, time or other extent.

   You have all come far and you will go farther.

   He built a time machine and travelled far into the future.

   Over time, his views moved far away from mine.

2. Very much; by a great amount.

   He was far richer than we'd thought.

   The expense far exceeds what I expected.

   I saw a tiny figure far below me.

   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:

     The Reds were on the back foot early on when a catalogue of defensive errors led to Ramires giving Chelsea the lead. Jay Spearing conceded possession in midfield and Ramires escaped Jose Enrique far too easily before scoring at the near post with a shot Reina should have saved.

far (third-person singular simple present fars, present participle farring, simple past and past participle farred)

1. (transitive, rare) To send far away.
   • 1864, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cousin Phillis:

     But I wish he'd been farred before he ever came near this house, with his “Please Betty” this, and “Please Betty” that, and drinking up our new milk as if he'd been a cat. I hate such beguiling ways.

   • 1962, Thomas Berger, Reinhart in Love:

     […] so Joe come to me and he uz sore as a boil and said you goddam prevert, I don't want no twenny-two-year-old mechanic who still pulls his pood in the toilet, and farred me.

From Latin far. Doublet of farro.

far (uncountable)

1. Spelt (a type of wheat, Triticum spelta), especially in the context of Roman use of it.
   • 1756, Aurelius Cornelius Celsus, Medicine: In Eight Books, page 108:

     A cataplasm made from any meal is heating, whether it be of wheat, or of far, or barley, or bitter vetch, ...

   • 1857, John Marius Wilson, The Rural Cyclopedia:

     Almost all the rustic writers agree in this, that far is most proper for wet clay land, and triticum for dry land. 'In wet red clays,' says Cato, 'sow far; and in dry, clean, and open lands, sow triticum.'

   • 1872, John Cordy Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, volume 1, page 201:

     Our wedding-cake is the memorial of a practice, that bore a striking resemblance to, if it was not derived from, confarreatio, the form of marriage that had fallen into general disuse amongst the Romans in the time of Tiberius. Taking its name from the cake of far and mola salsa that was broken over the bride's head, confarreatio was attended with an incident that increases its resemblance to the way in which our ancestors used at their weddings objects symbolical of natural plentifulness.

   • 1919, Carl Holliday, Wedding Customs Then and Now, page 32:

     The early Romans broke a cake of far and mola salsa (salted meal) over the bride's head, — a symbol of plentifulness, […]

far (plural fars)

1. (UK, dialect) A litter of piglets; a farrow.

• 'arf, AFR, AFr., ARF, Afr., FRA, Fra, RAF, RFA, arf, fra

Borrowed from Latin Pharus.

far m

1. lighthouse

From Latin pharus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈfar]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ

far m (plural fars)

1. lighthouse
2. headlight

• farola

• “far” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “far”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “far” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “far” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

far ?

1. fern

• Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

far

1. Alternative form of fur

From Old Norse faðir, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).

• IPA^(key): /fɑː/, [fɑ̈ː]
• Rhymes: -aːr

far c (singular definite faren, plural indefinite fædre)

1. father, dad

• fader

• mor, moder
• bror, søster, søskende
• søn, datter

• “far” in Den Danske Ordbog

Back-formation from fari (“to do, to make”).

• IPA^(key): [far]
• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: far

far

1. (neologism) by[1]

   La libro de Johano far Ŝekspiro

   John's book by Shakespeare

   regado de la popolo, far la popolo, kaj por la popolo

   government of the people, by the people, and for the people

   Synonyms: de, fare de

Unofficial. The most common innovative preposition, far is used for some of the functions of the preposition de "of, from, by", which some authors feel is overworked. Useful to distinguish, for example, the owner of a book (de) from the author (far).

From Old Norse far.

• IPA^(key): /fɛaːɹ/,Fugloy dialect: IPA^(key): [fɛːɹ]
• Rhymes: -ɛaːɹ
• Homophone: fær

far n (genitive singular fars, plural før)

1. drive, ride, tour
2. vessel
3. trace, sign

• IPA^(key): /faʁ/

far breton aux pruneaux (far breton with prunes)

far m (plural fars)

1. a traditional Breton cake

   Synonym: far breton

• “far”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Proto-Uralic *ponče (“tail”).[1] Older hypotheses have attempted to derive far from Proto-Uralic *pure- (“back, rear”) or Proto-Finno-Ugric *perä (“back, rear”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɒr]
• Rhymes: -ɒr

far (plural farok)

1. buttock, posterior

   Synonyms: fenék, ülep, hátsó, segg

2. stern (ship)
3. tail, rear (vehicle)

• farol
• farú

• far in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

From Old Norse fǫr (“journey”).

• IPA^(key): /faːr/
• Rhymes: -aːr

far n (genitive singular fars, nominative plural för)

1. passage, ride

   Má ég fá far?

   Can I get a ride?

2. imprint, trace
3. character, personality

• flutningur
• merki

• farfugl
• fá far (to get a ride, to get a lift)
• gera sér far um
• hjakka í sama farinu
• í fari hans
• sækja í sama farið

• skutl
• skutla

• raf

far (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of fare

• fra

From Proto-Italic *fars (“flour, grain”),[1] possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰars-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“spike, prickle”); compare Welsh bara (“bread”), English barley, Serbo-Croatian brȁšno (“flour”), Albanian bar (“grass”), Ancient Greek Φηρῶν (Phērôn, “plant deity”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /far/, [fär]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /far/, [fär]
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfar.r/, [ˈfärː] (before a vowel)

The nominative-accusative singular form scans as a long syllable in Ovid (cited below). Therefore, some sources mark the vowel in this form as long (fār), but an alternative explanation is that despite being spelled with a single letter r, this word form was pronounced with the underlying geminate /rr/ of the stem when the following word started with a vowel.[2]

far n (genitive farris); third declension

1. farro, a type of hulled wheat. (Most likely emmer (Triticum dicoccum or Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccon) but often mistranslated as spelt (Triticum spelta)) [3] [4]
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.338:

     Ante, deos homini quod conciliare valeret, / far erat et puri lucida mica salis.

     Of old, the means to win the goodwill of the gods were far and sparkling grains of pure salt.

     ― Fay Glinister, “Festus and Ritual Foodstuffs” p. 220
2. coarse meal; grits

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

• Franco-Provençal: far
• Galician: farelo
• Italian: farro
  • → English: farro
• Portuguese: farelo
• Sicilian: farru
• → English: far

• IPA^(key): /faːr/
• Rhymes: -aːr

From Arabic فَأْر (faʔr, “mouse”).

far m (plural firien or fariet, feminine fara)

1. rat

   Synonym: ġurdien

2. Y-shaped frame of a slingshot

From Arabic فارَ (fāra).

far (imperfect jfur, verbal noun fawran)

1. to overflow

far

1. Alternative form of fare

From Old Norse faðir, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”). Compare longer version fader.

far m (definite singular faren, indefinite plural fedre, definite plural fedrene)

1. a father

• pappa
• fader

• → Kven: faari

• mor, mamma
• bror, søster, søsken
• sønn, datter

far

1. imperative of fare

• IPA^(key): /fɑːr/

From Old Norse faðir, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”). Compare longer version fader.

far m (definite singular faren, indefinite plural fedrar, definite plural fedrane)

1. father

• pappa
• fader

• mor, mamma
• bror, syster, sysken
• son, dotter

From Old Norse far, from Proto-Germanic *farą.

far n (definite singular faret, indefinite plural far, definite plural fara)

1. trace, track

• spor n
• laup n

far

1. imperative of fara

• “far” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /fa/

far m (plural fars)

1. (nautical) lighthouse

far

1. Alternative form of faire

far

1. Alternative form of for

From Proto-Germanic *farą.

far n (genitive fars, plural fǫr)

1. a means of passage
2. passage
3. trace, print, track
4. life, conduct, behaviour
5. state, condition

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

far

1. second-person singular imperative active of fara

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic‎, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• faire, fare

From Latin facere.

• IPA^(key): /far/

far

1. to do
   • c. 1130, Jaufre Rudel, canso:

     Dieus que fetz tot qunt ve ni vai / E formet sest'amor de lonh / Mi don poder [...].

     God, who makes everything that comes or goes and who created this distant love, give me power.

• Occitan: far, fer, faire

• ᚠᛆᚱ

From (eastern) Old Norse *fāʀ (Old West Norse fær), from Proto-Germanic *fahaz.

fār n

1. sheep

• Swedish: får

Borrowed from Latin Pharus, French phare.

• IPA^(key): /far/
• Rhymes: -ar

far n (plural faruri)

1. lighthouse
2. (figuratively) beacon
3. car headlight

• fer (Puter)

Inherited from Late Latin fāre.

far (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader)

1. to do
2. to make

Possibly from Middle Irish i mbaile (“where”) from Old Irish baile (“place”) (with later early modern forms like a bhail a bhfuil, bhal a bhfuil) or from Old Irish fail (“where”), perhaps influenced by mar (“as, like”), related to Irish mar (“where”).

far

1. where (relative/non-interrogative)

   Bha e cunnartach far an robh am balach ag iasgach. ― It was dangerous where the boy was fishing.

• R. A. Breatnach (1973) “The relative adverb mar a”, in Celtica, volume 10, pages 167–170: “As regards Sc. far a, all I can suggest is that the initial f- is possibly to be referred to the /v-/ variants instanced among the M.Ir. forms of baile i listed above. But fail may be a more likely influence;”
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “2 fail”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 baile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “? 1 bail”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Clipping of de bhàrr

• bhàrr

far (+ genitive)

1. (down) from, off

   thuit e far eich ― he fell off a horse

far (first-person singular present fo, first-person singular preterite fe, past participle fado)

1. Obsolete spelling of hacer

• “far”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

• IPA^(key): /fɑːr/

Short for fader, from Old Norse faðir, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).

far c

1. father

• far in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• far in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

far

1. inflection of fara:
   1. imperative
   2. present indicative

Short for farled.

far n

1. (nautical) fairway

• FRA, arf, fra.

Borrowed from French phare.

far (definite accusative farı, plural farlar)

1. headlight

Borrowed from French fard.

far (definite accusative farı, plural farlar)

1. eye shadow

• (eye shadow): göz farı

Inherited from Late Latin fāre.

far

1. (transitive) to do, to make; to act, operate
2. (transitive) to study

• IPA^(key): [faɾ]

far (nominative plural fars)

1. lighthouse

• laramamalet
• lefilamalet
• malet
• maletam
• maletadomil
• maletahorn
• maletamöp
• tüm